Anglers' aid urged in sea-life effort

Overview

Background: The 1999 Marine Life Protection Act calls for revamping California's network of marine protected areas, which are designed to safeguard sea life by banning or limiting fishing and other seafood harvesting.

What's changing: Stakeholders representing fishermen, environmentalists and other interested parties are meeting in San Diego this week to continue revising the Southern California portion of that system.

The future: The state Fish and Game Commission is expected to complete its work in this region next year.

REGION OF FOCUS

The latest region in California's restructuring of its marine reserves is Southern California, which includes:

The idea seems outrageous: asking commercial and recreational anglers to divulge their best fishing spots to a nonprofit conservation group called Ecotrust.

But that's what state officials are doing to give fishermen a greater – and more scientifically sound – voice in the high-stakes process of expanding California's marine protected areas, which ban or limit fishing and other seafood harvesting to safeguard sea life.

“With (three decades) that I have been involved in fishery issues, the governing bodies haven't really taken into account the socioeconomic value of our fisheries,” said Dave Yarger, a commercial salmon fisherman based in Bodega Bay. “They have really come forward and addressed it” by using Ecotrust.

Roughly 1,200 commercial and recreational anglers statewide – including more than 850 in Southern California – have contributed information to Ecotrust.

The group's leaders will unveil some of their first maps for Southern California today during a public meeting of government officials, ecologists, seafood industry representatives and others at the Holiday Inn on the Bay in downtown San Diego. The participants serve on a state-sponsored panel that will spend most of 2009 redrawing marine protected areas from Point Conception in Santa Barbara County to the U.S.-Mexico border.

Ecotrust's charts are pivotal in balancing the environmental benefits of new or expanded marine reserves with the financial and recreational effects, said Melissa Miller-Henson, program manager for the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative.

The initiative stems from a 1999 state law to bolster marine conservation along California's 1,100-mile coastline.

That legislation doesn't require regulators to consider economic factors, but Miller-Henson said the Fish and Game Commission wanted to hear from fishermen because they're already grappling with other harvest regulations. Ecotrust was tapped to provide data that are more detailed and comprehensive than anecdotal evidence from a handful of industry representatives.

State officials have divided the marine protected areas into five regions. Southern California is the third area to be reassessed, after the central and north-central coasts.

Most recently, Ecotrust helped the state enlarge its system of marine reserves in the north-central area – from near Point Arena in Mendocino County to Pigeon Point in San Mateo County – while limiting the economic fallout.

The panel that revamped the north-central network repeatedly looked at Ecotrust's maps during its work, said Astrid Scholz, a vice president for Ecotrust.

“There were numerous examples of where lines were shifted to maintain fishing areas and protect habitat,” Scholz said. “The result was a significant decrease in estimated economic impacts.”

Her group's work could prove even more valuable in Southern California, the region widely seen as having the most complex mix of interests. Dozens of groups will jostle for maximum influence during the revamping process.

In 2005, the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative hired Ecotrust to analyze California's offshore fisheries using its Open OceanMap software, a job that will cost an estimated $1.5 million. Starting a decade ago, Ecotrust developed the technology in the hope of helping the state pinpoint its most productive fishing areas, Scholz said.

“Nobody wants to put these fishermen out of work. It's just that oftentimes we don't know what the impact is of closing areas to harvest,” she said. “We said, 'We can close these data gaps,' and the best people to do that with is the fishermen out on the water.”

Ecotrust, founded in 1991, operates on the principle that economic and ecological interests are intertwined. It conducts research and spends money on natural-resources issues from Alaska to California, including fisheries, forests and farming.

In each region of the California coastline, Ecotrust contacts top commercial fishermen and walks them through the mapping program. It also offers a do-it-yourself, online version to recreational fishermen.

Both programs allow fishermen to chart areas they consider the most important for recreational or financial reasons. To help anglers feel more comfortable in participating, only stakeholders and other decision-makers can see Ecotrust's maps.

Yarger, the fisherman from Bodega Bay, was among those who divulged firsthand knowledge to Ecotrust. He served on the panel guiding the north-central region.

“Ecotrust worked to our advantage for what we did save,” Yarger said. “(Its maps) were one of the main tools as far as my negotiations.”

It's too soon to say how things will play out in Southern California, where the revamping process won't end until next year.

Last summer and fall, Ecotrust workers canvassed fishermen in Dana Point, Oceanside, San Diego and elsewhere.

“Hearing 'eco' and 'trust' in the same name – I was skeptical,” said Fred Huber, captain of the Daily Double commercial sport-fishing boat in Point Loma. “But they managed to win my trust. There was a combination of things to make me feel like they were shooting straight.”

Huber heard good reviews of Ecotrust from fishing groups in Northern California, and he attended a meeting in which Scholz explained the Ecotrust survey. “She came across as being sympathetic to our cause,” Huber said.

He spent a few hours with an Ecotrust representative to map his fishing areas for about 10 species, including sculpin, barracuda and ling cod.

Huber later reviewed some of the group's charts and found them to be accurate. But he was frustrated about the amount of money spent on the project, which he said produced maps that experienced fishermen could draft for a fraction of the price.

“Honestly, there is nothing surprising. Anyplace there is a kelp forest, that is where guys say they catch kelp bass,” Huber said.

He did find one benefit – that the collective wisdom of anglers is now officially recognized.

“Ecotrust made us legitimate in the political process,” Huber said.

San Diego kayak-fishing guru Paul Lebowitz also participated in the Ecotrust study. He sits on the marine-reserves panel that will meet today in San Diego.

“It behooves us to have an outside source for this information, and Ecotrust is a source that has a lot of credibility,” Lebowitz said.

However, he's concerned that Ecotrust may not have had enough time or money to fully analyze the recreational fishing scene. “I wish they had had a budget that was 10 times larger and a full year to do it,” he said.

Environmentalists also respect Ecotrust, even though they want to expand the state's network of marine reserves. Kate Hanley, who represents the conservation group San Diego Coastkeeper on the Southern California panel, said she will consult the group's work to control economic losses.

Ecotrust's leaders “know the law,” Hanley said. “They know the process and they know how things work, so they are providing really valuable information.”